Time to call out the Clinch Mountain militia.
Disgusting.”
“Sickening.”
“Shocking.” And “vile.”
Those were just a few of the adjectives used to describe the vandalism of a flag pole and theft of two flags at the Washington County/Johnson City Veterans Memorial.
Brenda Barnette, chairwoman of the memorial’s board, said she received a call around 3 p.m. Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, telling her the American and POW/MIA flags had been stolen from the memorial for a second time.
“It’s a boot in the face of freedom, veterans and our families who sacrifice and serve,” Barnette said.
“It’s heartbreaking really, I mean to think that somebody lives in our community who doesn’t revere our freedom like we do. It’s kind of beyond vandalism, because symbolically they’re taking the freedom that these people sacrificed and exercising it in a very fallacious way.”
Just three months ago, the same thing occurred; the flagpole’s latch was broken open and both flags stolen.
In both cases, a parks and recreation maintenance worker noticed the flags and contacted police.
Although the flagpole’s latch wasn’t as damaged as it was during the Feb. 23 occurrence, the vandal likely used a thin screwdriver or similar tool both times to pry the lock open and access the cable pulley.
Allen Jackson, who also serves on the memorial’s board, said he should be able to fix the flagpole’s latch and replace the $150-plus flags by sunrise before the Memorial Day services.
Regardless, Barnette said the annual Memorial Day program at the Washington County/Johnson City Veterans Memorial would go on as planned at 6 p.m.
HT: The Daily Caller